So I went to Japan this week for reading week, a week with no class so that students can study for midterms. Exchange students have historically taken this opportunity to travel and used the remaining days to study for their exams. My friend Ethan from high school is also studying abroad at HKU and we had discussed going to Japan during this period for quite some time. It was not all that expensive to get plane tickets and a hotel, plus the flight was only approximately 4 hours long from Hong Kong, so we booked our trip about a month ago. We flew into Tokyo on Friday night at 2 am, allowing me to sleep on the plane ride. We then planned to travel on the bullet train to Osaka on Tuesday morning, which is an hour and a half long trip. Finally, we planned to fly back to Hong Kong on Wednesday night, just in time for my birthday on Thursday.
Tokyo, being the largest city in the world has so much to offer. It is certainly one of the most fascinating places I have ever been to in my life. You can easily tell that it is more traditional and has a less western-Asian culture than Hong Kong. With that said, the technology, efficiency, and cleanliness of the streets are extremely noticeable too. While the currency can be quite annoying to carry around because of the inflation (approximately 113 Yen for every 1 USD), you quickly adjust just as with HKD. I recommend holding all your coins separately.
On our first day, we explored the Imperial Gardens which were within walking distance of our hotel. The gardens offered serene views and a sense of tranquility that was not something I expected to find in Tokyo. In fact, due to its size there are lots of different types of environments to explore in and around the city. We then went to the Shibuya neighborhood which is almost the exact opposite, vibrant with lots of tall buildings and lights. Being there at night was neat because there were so many people out and about and people watching is one of my favorite activities, especially while abroad.
The following day we explored a few temples and saw Tokyo Tower, the most distinguishable part of Tokyo’s skyline and an Eiffel Tower inspired structure. It broadcasts the cable for the entire city and since there are so many tall buildings it needs to be extra tall to broadcast over them. Also on day 2, we got to see the Shinjuku neighborhood, which had a more western and fast-paced vibe, reminiscent of New York City. There we were able to view the famous Pokemon center that is basically paradise for any super fan of the popular video game. Having played it myself when I was younger, I appreciated this greatly. After that we went to the Samurai Museum and learned all about Japanese history, Kyoto, and Samurai battles/techniques.
We ended the day by going to Ginza, one of the wealthiest areas in all of Japan. Walking down one of the main streets you can see for miles all of the lights and beautiful architecture. Right next to Ginza is also Daiba, which had many interesting color schemes and a giant light up Ferris wheel, where we took far too many photos than I am proud to say. They even had a transformer (Gundam technically) that was 7 stories high and it actually transformed!!!
On our final day in Tokyo we went to the Meiji Shrine which was located in a forrest-like park. Despite it raining we still got to enjoy the lovely nature and the beautiful shrine. Unfortunately parts of it were under renovation construction. We then headed over to Harajuku for some shopping. Here we saw all sorts of unique shops and takes on American culture/fashion. Some stores had knock-off brand name items while others carried the real deal, including some very expensive high end brands.
Next, we travelled all the way to the other end of the city to see the magnificent Tokyo Sky Tower. This is the second largest man-made structure in the world, only second to one in Dubai. It was disappointing that we couldn’t see all the way to the top because of the cloud cover but just knowing that what we saw was only 2/3 of the way to the top was astounding to me. I find it unbelievable that people actually go to the top for maintenance that high up. That night we explored a few more small parts of the city and got dinner and desert. We were pretty exhausted from all of the walking over the past few days so we decided to call it a night pretty early.
Some general highlights of Tokyo definitely included the sushi. We had sushi 3 or 4 times in the short span of time that we were actually there and it was all delicious without fail. There was one restaurant we went to where you order sushi at a bar and a conveyor belt delivers it to your seat within minutes. It was probably the coolest technology related experience I had while here. Moreover, the anime and cartoon part of Japanese culture shined through almost everywhere we went and it was cool to experience that since it is not nearly as popular in the US.
While there was obviously a language barrier it was not too much trouble and at most restaurants they offered English versions of the menu. People were very kind in trying to explain directions and concepts so that we could do things correctly. The subway is quite vast but it does get you where you need to go. The only confusing part is really the fact that there are two organizations that run it, one being a private firm and the other being the government.
I am currently writing this while on the bullet train to Osaka and therefore I will have to publish my trip to Osaka in the journal directly following this one. I hope you will check that out when I publish it.
